Sewing Project - Tea Station Mat

I made another mat for the kitchen Tea Station because they need laundering and I like to have one on the counter all the time.

The piece of woodland fabric I got at the ReUse Center a couple of weeks ago.  I tea dyed it in black tea for a couple of hours. 

I added yellow embroidery on the flowers in the print to bring the yellow from the backing piece to the front. 

I put a couple of layers of flannel in the middle.  The back piece is a cotton poly in a golden yellow leopard print.

I cut the front and flannel 7.75" x 13.75" because that was the limit of the back print.

The back print was cut 1.25 inches larger in both directions (9.00 x 15") as I will be self binding the piece.

I pinned all the layers together. With yellow thread I sewed several seams along the length to hold all the layers together. 

I then fold the extra on the back layer to the front once and the again to frame the front piece. I used a fancy stitch to sew down the binding.  Trimmed all the threads and I am done!

Sewing Project - Kitchen Tea Station

With my computer away to have it's data transferred to the new one I decided to sew.

I selected some yellow batik pieces I found at ReUse Center for the front and a striped piece for the back. Flannel for the bit of padding in the middle and yellow bias tape for the edges. I sewed the front together then added a few lines of quilting to hold the flannel to the front. Trimmed all the pieces to size. It measures 8 inches W by 12  in T. The color will work with stains that no doubt will happen through use and regular washing.

Once that was done. I went about getting my teapot a new top for the lid. My criteria for the new teapot, large opening making it easy to clean, a diffuser, and pretty.  This one met all of them except no knob. 

I found a chrome knob at CT that fit the bill. I had to add a bit of a spacer on the inside that that worked out well.

I generally, steeped my loose tea 2 times so that means I have to set the diffuser aside for the next steep.  It does have a solid bottom but something to catch the drips was in order.  I found this porcelain tea bag holder which was the perfect size.  I will be liquidating some of the other teapots now that I have one that works really well. 

Update: A metal knob was a bad idea!  It gets wicked hot.

Mats for Fabric Art

I created some card stock mats for fabric art made by my friend Ada.  The clip frames are 3.5 x 5 inches which is a standard size.  I was able to cut the hole in the center with a die from the Spellbinders Nestabilities Card Creator Dies - A2 Matting Basics B.  I chose card stock which coordinated with the colors in the art.  Textured green card stock on the top left and felt finish card stock in eggplant on the top right. Bazzil Great Lakes textured on the bottom left and Stampin Up Soft Suede on bottom right. I trimmed the piece of card stock down to the right size after I had die cut the hole in the center.  With the lines on my cutting board I could measure even spaces all around and cut with an x-acto knife.  I like that fact that the die leaves a narrow embossed layer which add a bit of something more to the mat.

She is a fellow artist who will be participating in the Mission Possible sale on November 4-5th.  Check my events page for details.

Mat for Cross Stitch

A friend received this tiny cross stitch art piece representing the colorful historical houses in downtown St. John's, Newfoundland.  The original frame had fallen apart and she wanted to preserve the piece of needlework.  Knowing my paper craft skills she asked if I could make a mat to frame it into this new 2.5" x 3.5" frame.  I selected a black textured card stock.  I cut the piece to the size of the frame then with the motto of "measure twice cut once" I penciled the cut out.  After checking, I placed it on a cutting mat with lines across so I could cut very straight. Once cut, it frame the bit of art nicely.  I taped the fabric to the mat.  I cleaned the glass on both sides, slipped the art, the spacer and the backer back into place.  Voila!!  Restored to bring joy again.